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I'm going to be boring repeating myself here but you are still pandering to his fussiness, regardless of the vomiting and upset tummy.

Put dog food down, if he doesn't eat it after 20 mins, pick it up. Put it back down at lunch time, pick it up after 20 mins, same at dinner time. (I'm not saying feed him 3 times a day but I think you'll worry if you leave him till dinner time if he missed breakfast). He may skip a days food, too bad. He won't refuse it the next day. Stick to one food so he knows you won't tempt him with "better" food. You wouldn't give desert to a child who refused dinner, same principle.

Have you tried fasting him for his upset tummy?

Pauline, I absolutely agree with you for a HEALTHY dog. What hasn't been determined (unless I'm wrong) is whether or not Charlie has some underlying illness that has caused the weight loss and anorexia. I can't determine from the info if Charlie is simply a picky eater looking for better fare or if he has a poor appetite from some medical condition. If he's healthy, I agree with you. If he has an underlying illness, then that issue should be addressed, and it's often best done with a homemade diet rather than a prescription food that often isn't very palatable.

I don't know the time period over which he has lost that weight, but heavy dogs usually don't voluntarily reduce their intake of food but rather they lose weight when we reduce their portion.

One of my girls who had always been a good eater developed a waxing and waning anorexia with no other symptoms. After some months, she became emaciated, losing from 13 lbs down to 8 lbs. She had intestinal lymphoma. Two of my teenaged boys became picky eaters when they went into kidney failure. If a senior becomes a picky eater, I always want to rule out an underlying medical condition. Heart failure will also result in a poor appetite and loss of muscle mass.

I'm so sorry to read that Charlie is so unwell. Sometimes fasting for a day can help to settle the tummy but it sounds like Charlie is in need of a full blood check to determine what the cause of the vomiting and diarhoea.

With regard to Charlie's diet, I would have to disagree with Pauline in this instance (sorry Pauline ) Charlie is now ten years old and assuming you can get a proper diagnosis and treatment then I don't see why Charlie can't be fed the sort of stuff that he likes........all in moderation of course.

I'm with you on this one Charlie. Hope you get well soon little man

Claire Once owned by Rudeepoohs
then rescued by CaraMia and Minnie Moo.
Missing all my girls every day....

Charlie is bit better and has been eating. He seems to like the chicken and pasta. We have also been giving him a little ID food too. His diarrhoea has cleared up and without wanting to sound gross his stools are looking good. He isn't 100% but is a lot better. He is now begging for human food a lot though so I have to be careful as he may be ignoring food so he gets tit bits.
I honestly don't know if he has cancer but I think it is more and more unlikely. I'm beginning to feel like the vet went for the easy diagnosis without knowing all the facts.
Over the last couple of days I have noticed little mushrooms in our lawn. I've now removed them all but for all I know he may of eaten one and poisoned himself as he is a grass eater.

I'm going to be boring repeating myself here but you are still pandering to his fussiness, regardless of the vomiting and upset tummy.

Put dog food down, if he doesn't eat it after 20 mins, pick it up. Put it back down at lunch time, pick it up after 20 mins, same at dinner time. (I'm not saying feed him 3 times a day but I think you'll worry if you leave him till dinner time if he missed breakfast). He may skip a days food, too bad. He won't refuse it the next day. Stick to one food so he knows you won't tempt him with "better" food. You wouldn't give desert to a child who refused dinner, same principle.

Have you tried fasting him for his upset tummy?

I have to say that when Ruby was around a year old she did the whole- I will eat that today but not tomorrow! Every day I gave in to her pathetic little ways and she used to make herself ill im sure. Pretty much every month for 6 months I would be at the vets with bouts of 'Gastrointeritus' Diaharia, sickness starving herself. She would be on anti sickness medication and all of the above!

I had to be harsh with her and she has not once been ill like that since being on a good balanced dog food.
Yes- she refused food for a whopping 6 days BUT ever since she has eaten whatever she gets and neer refuses a meal!

Karen

Ruby - my stunning soul mate who defies the odds every dayCharlie- my angel at heart and devil at play

Sorry I am only reading this now, but that sounds like what happened with Penny, although Penny is young, she is only about a year old, she got really picky with her food, constant running poo with mucus deposits, then she would be fine, then it would kick off again! This was ongoing for 8 weeks, eventually she passed alot of blood, so my vet decided it was time to see what was going on as all other tests were coming back clear, and no obvious signs of what was going on...we were still assuming it was something to do with gastric; he had to sedate her to get a camera down and that when he realised her tonsils were SEVERELY infected, he kept her in for 3 days on IV fluids and antibiotics, and then she came home and was on antibiotics and steroids for a month, with no improvement, so we decided to take the tonsils out to see what was going on, they are at a lab being tested at the moment, but the difference in Penny is unreal, she is happy, her poo is 100% normal, she is eating all around her & she is back on her proper food, not chicken and pasta...so what I am trying to say is you know your dog, if the symptoms return get all the tests done that you can afford to do, to find out what is wrong, sometimes it is not the obvious.